Chelsea maintained their 100 percent record in this season's Champions League Wednesday with a 1-0 defeat of defending champions Barcelona in a Group A match at Stamford Bridge.
Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba scored the only goal of the game for the English champions early in the second half, firing home an unstoppable shot from the edge of the area.
The result moves the Londoners on to nine points from three games with Barca second on four points, level with Werder Bremen who beat Levski Sofia 2-0.
PHOTO: AP
"I think it was a great victory, not just because of the three points but because of how we got the three points," said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who described his team as "magnificent" and who felt the victory could have been greater against a disappointing Barca side.
"We had many chances to score a second goal," he said. "The last two defeats Barcelona had in the Champions League were against Chelsea."
Ronaldo Naldo opened the scoring for the German Bundesliga leaders Bremen just before the break thanks to a deflected free kick and Diego made it 2-0 with 17 minutes remaining.
Bayern Munich also sit on nine points in Group B after a 1-0 win away to Sporting Lisbon. Bastian Schweinsteiger turned in a mixed performance, putting the visitors in front on 19 minutes before being sent off for a second bookable offense one minute after the restart.
"We were excellent in the first 20 minutes but then we let control of the game slip out of our hands," Bayern coach Felix Magath said.
In the other match in Group B, Inter Milan collected their first points of the campaign with a 2-1 win over Spartak Moscow. Julio Ricardo Cruz scored twice for the Serie A leaders in the first 10 minutes while Roman Pavlyuchenko pulled one back for Spartak.
Liverpool may be showing indifferent form in the English Premiership but a 1-0 win at Girondins Bordeaux thanks to a goal from Peter Crouch sees Rafael Benitez's side top of Group C with seven points.
PSV Eindhoven sit level with the Reds after a 2-1 win away to Turkish side Galatasaray. Sasa Ilic put the home side in front on 19 minutes but second half goals from Jan Kromkamp and Arouna Kone secured the win for the Dutch side.
In Group D, Valencia continue to lead the way with nine points after a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Shakhtar Donetsk thanks to two goals from David Villa. The Ukrainians finished the match with 10 men after Viacheslav Sviderskiy was sent off for a second bookable offense 15 minutes from time.
AS Roma lie second on six points after a 1-0 win away to Olympiakos Piraeus.
SSC Napoli’s Italian Serie A title hopes suffered a late setback on Sunday when they were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Genoa, setting up a thrilling season finale with closest rivals Inter just one point behind. The hosts remain top with 78 points, holding a slim lead over Inter, who won 2-0 at Torino earlier on Sunday, with two rounds remaining. To make matters worse for Napoli, midfielder Stanislav Lobotka, struggling with an ankle injury, was forced off just minutes after the match began. Scott McTominay delivered a perfect pass into the box where Romelu Lukaku got
Harry Kane opened the scoring ahead of lifting his first career silverware as Bayern Munich beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 2-0, with veteran Thomas Mueller playing his last home game for the club. Bayern officially won the title on May 4 when defending champions Bayer Leverkusen were held to a 2-2 draw at Freiburg, but were presented with the Bundesliga shield in front of their home fans at full-time. Dripping wet after being showered with beer by teammates, Kane said the title win was “an incredible feeling,” and hoped it would be “the first of many.” “It’s been lot of hard work, a lot of
Taiwanese e-sports veteran Lin “ET” Chia-hung yesterday successfully defended his King of Fighters XV title at this year’s Evolution Championship Series: Japan (EVO Japan), securing his second consecutive championship. Lin claimed victory with a 3-1 win over Japanese pro gamer “mok” in the grand final, repeating his earlier 3-1 win against the same opponent in the winners’ final. The 40-year-old earned a ￥1 million (US$6,897) cash prize at the two-day tournament, which drew 294 competitors. Mok, Lin’s toughest rival in the bracket, took home ￥400,000 as runner-up. Lin remains undefeated in match sets against mok in King of Fighters XV, holding a 10-0 record,
Batting great Virat Kohli yesterday announced his immediate retirement from Test cricket, just days before India name their squad for a tour to England. Kohli, who scored 9,230 runs in 123 matches at an average of 46.85, posted his decision on Instagram five days after India captain Rohit Sharma called time on his own Test career. Since making his debut in 2011, Kohli struck 30 hundreds and 31 fifties with a highest score of 254 not out, mainly batting at number four in the order. “It’s been 14 years since I first wore the baggy blue in Test cricket,” the
RSS